▲ "Pingsha Falling Geese : The Poetry and Power of Music"
The scene of the cleveland art museum exhibition
Curated by Cleveland Museum of Art Asian Art Curator Clarissa von Spee, "The Falling Goose in the Sands: The Poetry and Power of Music" is currently on display at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Chinese contemporary artist Peng Wei's installation "The Migration of Memory – Pingsha Falling Geese" is presented in the exhibition hall like a symphonic score, together with the collection of traditional Chinese paintings and musical instruments. The "Pingsha Falling Goose" series of works is inspired by the ancient Chinese song "Pingsha Falling Goose", combining ink painting with the private letters of Western musicians such as Mozart, Beethoven, Chopard, etc., and presenting it in the form of musical scores. Highlighting the importance of music and the arts, the exhibition celebrates the Cleveland Orchestra's return to the stage after the pandemic and pays tribute to musicians around the world.
▲Exhibition site
Who is the one close to the artist?
Text/Zhang Min
In 2017, when Cleveland Museum of Fine Arts curator Clarisse first saw Peng Wei's "Falling Geese in Pingsha" on display in Switzerland, she was impressed by his landscape and the musician's letter singing and singing ideas, and wanted to include this group of painting installations in the museum space. But just as Peng Wei's work awaits the next new interpretation, it was four years before "Pingsha Falling Geese : An Exhibition of the Poetry and Power of Music" was unveiled at the Cleveland Museum of Art in the United States.
▲ Pingsha Falling Goose IV-1, Hemp Paper Ink, 38×60cm, 2021
Under the epidemic, when art faces the major propositions of life, where does the so-called power come from?
Clarissa believes that beneath the seemingly poetic appearance of calm, there is actually a strong individual strength of tenacity. At this time, it is undoubtedly the most appropriate time to exhibit this group of works. The museum that has gradually recovered from the epidemic and the Cleveland Orchestra that cannot perform because of the epidemic look at each other from afar, just like the narrative presented in "Pingsha Falling Geese": sympathy in silence. The exhibition is also the museum's gift to the Cleveland Orchestra to musicians around the world.
▲ Exhibition site
Using Peng Wei's works as a clue, the curators place the ancient Chinese paintings, guqins and pipa collected by the Cleveland Museum of Fine Arts in the same field, like a silent theater, implying poetry and power. From November 19, 2021 to May 8, 2022, this musical art mime is staged at the Museum of Fine Arts in Cleveland, USA.
Naturally, a little carelessness in the cross-category and rich content of the exhibition will cause misreading, and regardless of the more or less misreading elements of the text and images themselves, each viewer has a choice in the face of following the artist's personal perspective or retaining his own misreading. Therefore, the following interpretation of Peng Wei's "Pingsha Falling Goose" and the discussion is the artist's creative angle, in the exhibition hall, the audience still has the right to choose.
▲ Pingsha Falling Goose III-1, Hemp Paper Ink, 38×60cm, 2017
▲ Pingsha Falling Goose IV-3, Hemp Paper Ink, 38×60cm, 2021
Peng Wei, an ink painter and an installation artist, does not mean that she has both a dual creative identity at the same time, but refers to the wonder and consternation of ink and various ready-made objects in her works, and the re-combing and laying out of her works in different exhibition spaces, which often makes her play with sex. Because of "play", her creations are almost always open-ended, always throwing out one problem after another to be solved. In the process of reading the letters of Western musicians and learning the guqin, the artistic conception of "Pingsha Falling Goose" and its connection with music gave Peng Wei the idea of greeting musicians with a group of works. The similarity between the folio album and the sheet music form made her think of using a sheet music stand as a support.
The courage of Western musicians in their epistles, ink paintings with contemporary feelings, sheet music stands, ancient Chinese scroll paintings, and guqins to work together here to try to dissolve the concept of time and space is commendable, but it is somewhat arbitrary to regard the music stand only as a connection point for the content of the exhibition. In fact, Peng Wei was moved by the tortuous degree of the personality formation and the synthesis of personality of each great artist in the correspondence, and the original intention of "dialogue" was formed when she entered the country through words. She then used calligraphy to copy letters and juxtapose ink paintings to translate the original intention of her "dialogue". As for the choice of sheet music stand, in addition to the similarity in the form of the folio album and the sheet music mentioned above, the posture of the sheet music stand also reminds Peng Wei of "waiting", just as she feels that the score is waiting for the musician to arrive every time she watches the performance, and the sheet music stand in "Pingsha Falling Goose" is also waiting for the arrival of the artist, perhaps they have arrived, and the standing is to announce their hidden presence.
▲ Pingsha Falling Goose III-13, Hemp Paper Ink, 38×60cm, 2018
▲ Pingsha Falling Goose III-10, Hemp Paper Ink, 38×60cm, 2019
Peng Wei's translation often stops abruptly at bizarre thoughts, and then let her reveal more inside information, the effect is always not as direct as her use of art demonstrations. In the case of "Pingsha Falling Goose", she summed it up as "all art is finally because of that person". She pointed out that by approaching the true nature of "people", with the help of images, words and other means, she tried to fill many long-separated areas: storytelling and poetry, ancient and modern, Chinese and Western. Interestingly, Said's "The Ultimate State of Music" once spoke from Beethoven's point of view: "The reason why Beethoven thinks that he has the ability to transcend human nature and enter the eternal world of principled forms is out of a strong egoism. Yet his egoism, his carefully constructed subjectivity, and his aesthetic paradigm are all aimed at achieving the ultimate goal: transcending specificity, transcending history and politics. ”
▲ Pingsha Falling Goose III-14, Hemp Paper Ink, 38×60cm, 2018
▲ Pingsha Falling Goose III-4, Hemp Paper Ink, 38×60cm, 2017
Filling in or surpassing what the artist does is often purposeful, with ways and feelings with some hazy experiences, which are easily connected with music, which both brings people in and has the ability to classify facts as universal principles.
▲ Pingsha Falling Goose III-3, Hemp Paper Ink, 38×60cm, 2017
▲ Pingsha Falling Goose III-8, Hemp Paper Ink, 38×60cm, 2019
If the historical line is precisely cut, the genetic map of history is obtained, and the "character" will eventually replace the "character"; if the personality characteristics of the great artist are summarized, those emotions are undoubtedly common. However, with Peng Wei's "ambition", the sense of mission to fill the divided zone and the commonality of personality emotions should not be her main purpose. Or rather, she wants to make a real feeling in a seemingly "ambitious" way. Peng Wei's "Pingsha Falling Goose" is the feeling, but also the proximity, the closeness to the authenticity of the artist with a great personality. Many people may also have their own way of approaching, and although the way is different, there is a certain identity fit. Or the question: Who is the one close to the artist?
Image | Peng Wei's studio
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